Ladra's picks for 2020 Miami-Dade county, state and federal elections

While Ladra has already made some endorsements and predictions for this month’s election, it might be a good idea to repeat them and add some others today, now that early voting has started.

A lot of attention has gone to the Miami-Dade mayoral race, but there are also seven commission races and five of those seats — at least, maybe more — will go to brand new people. This sea change could overhaul the whole dynamic of our board of commissioners and the priorities of our county government.

The decisions made on Aug. 18 and Nov. 3 (for those races that go into runoffs) will affect us for at least the next four years, and possibly longer.

So, without further ado, except for judicial and school board candidates (maybe later), here are Ladra’s chosen hopefuls on the ballot:

For Miami-Dade State Attorney: Not the current incumbent, Kathy Fernandez-Rundle, who is very visible these days but that only happens every four years. She has failed time and again to charge not just politicians who are obviously dirty — many say she lets the window expire intentionally — and has even been implicated in the absentee ballot fraud caught in Hialeah in 2012. She is also too reluctant to charge police officers who step over the line. She is only the third state attorney in our county and has been in office 27 years. That’s almost as long as Commissioner Dennis Moss! Does she think she’s queen? Attorney Melba Pearson doesn’t have to be much more than an alternative. Any alternative will do. But Pearson happens to also be a former assistant county attorney with 15 years experience, mostly in the domestic violence and career criminal/robbery units. So she knows how the SAO works — and doesn’t work. She left because of Fernandez-Rundle’s reluctance for reforms and became the deputy director at the American Civil Liberties Union in 2017. Seems like a balance we especially need right now. Ladra both endorses and predicts a win for Pearson. People are fed up.

For Miami-Dade Mayor: The only one of the four viable candidates who deserves this, who deserves our trust — because that is what we give with our vote, people — is Xavier Suarez. He has been the only person on the commission to vote against the irresponsible budgets of termed-out Mayor Carlos Gimenez and the raiding of the half-penny tax People’s Transportation Plan funds to cover maintenance costs. He has gone so far as to sue the county. Suarez has always been his own man and doesn’t owe anybody anything. He doesn’t want anything for himself — except the fame and glory of going into the history books. Every other candidate has some kind of questionable baggage, agenda and or entourage behind them. Every other candidate has dark money and negative smear attacks. Xavier is clean. That absentee ballot fraud that got him kicked out of office in 1997 was perpetrated by someone else. He just got swept up in it. Former mayor Alex Penelas, who will likely be in the runoff with Suarez or Commissioner Daniella Levine-Cava, knows that. But it doesn’t fit his narrative.

For Commissioner District 1: I’m sure that Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert is a nice guy and I’ve heard mixed reviews from people about him. But he seems to have buckled to the Hard Rock Stadium owners and he’s been in office for more than a decade (counting his councilman years). Let’s give Sybrina Fulton a chance. As a county employee who has worked in several different departments, she has insight into what is going on in the rank and file and she might know how to trim waste and find savings and efficiency. You have to walk the walk. As the mother of Trayvon Martin and a nationally-recognized poster mom for the Black Lives Matter movement, she may also provide an important voice to have on our county commission. Especially at this time. Ladra endorses and predicts a Fulton win.

For Commissioner District 3: Ladra has a prediction but not an endorsement because she doesn’t know anybody else in this race except for Miami Commissioner Keon “Pay-to-Play” Hardemon, whose lobbyist cousin Barbara Hardemon not only works for InterMiami, the group that wants to build a real estate park disguised as a soccer stadium on the Melreese golf course, but also manages his $926,000 campaign war chest (account and committees together). Hardemon will most definitely come out on top of the five-way race. Hell, he may even win it outright. Poor us. Hopefully, Gepsie Metellus, who Ladra endorses because she could be the best one to compete against him in November, will help force a runoff and give everyone a chance to give Hardemon a good hard look.

For Commissioner District 5: This is a tough one. Or not. Before former Miami-Dade School Board Member Renier Diaz de la Portilla jumped in at the 11th hour — he didn’t want to give us a chance to talk about it too much — Ladra was fully in support of Miguel Soliman, simply because he is not incumbent Eileen Higgins, who has succumbed to special interests and lobbyists and has lost lots of her original support because of it. But now Ladra finds herself forced to hold her nose and endorse Higgins. Soliman is really a long shot, especially with another anti-Higgins choice — one with a history of dirty campaigning — and we simply cannot let Renier DLP get this seat. His brother, Miami City Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla — who ran for and lost that seat in 2018 — will be in charge and will be insoportable. This has been one of the uglier races, with both Diaz de la Portilla and Higgins calling each other communists and hitting each other with negative attacks. It’s also the race with the best mailer so far, which landed in mailboxes last week, depicting the Renier and Alex as the Fredo and Sonny, respectively, of course, of the Corleone family — The Godfathers of Dirty Politics. It’s already a classic. I’m framing mine.

For Commissioner District 7: This is Raquel Regalado‘s year. Ladra thinks she should have run for mayor but at least she will be in a decision-making position on the commission. And at such a crucial time. We’re going to need her. The former Miami-Dade School Board member, who forced Gimenez into a runoff in 2016, is a consensus-building reformer and, frankly, just smarter and more capable than the other two candidates (don’t even count the unnamed, long-shot spoiler in there to take Hispanic votes from her). Former State Rep. and Pinecrest Mayor Cindy Lerner needs to take some anger management classes before she runs for office again. Or just retire already and start a book club. It’s like a committee. And activist Michael Rosenberg was a nice guy before he started running for office but has now become a single-minded, end-justifies-the-means asshole who has done almost everything in the campaign illegally, which doesn’t bode well for someone who wants to be an elected. The People, Animals & Government Ethics 2020 PAC, led by his Pets Trust co-founder Rita Schwartz, has paid for everything with, basically, $50,000 from Schwartz herself (or is it?) Ladra both endorses and predicts a Regalado victory. It would be nice if we could get it over with this month, too. Dale Raquel.

For Commissioner District 9: Ladra predicts that Kionne McGhee will make it to the runoff on sheer name rec and district demographics and, well, because he’s known as a stalwart defender of only-rail-will-do in South Dade. So this might really be a race for the No. 2 spot and there are four other candidates vying for that. Attorney Marlon Hill is the best financed with a campaign finance account that’s been twice as fat as McGhee, who should have incumbent money but doesn’t (unless there’s a hidden PAC somewhere), according to the latest campaign finance reports. Pastor Mark Coats has been campaigning the longest and perhaps the hardest. Save for Community Council Member and activist Johnny Farias, who has been campaigning forever. But let’s not underestimate Homestead Councilman Elvis Maldonado as the potential runoff challenger, as possibly hinted to by the growing number of Hispanic voters — or, rather, the good percentage of Hispanic voters returning absentee ballots in that district. Either way, there’s definitely a run-off here and, lo and behold, none of the candidates are terrible losers. No endorsement… yet.

In Miami-Dade District 11, sleeper Robert Asencio could can Joe Martinez

For Commissioner District 11: It doesn’t really terribly matter who wins here either, because both candidates have good intentions. Ladra predicts incumbent Joe Martinez will pull it off, despite being Commissioner Cranky and treating some people badly. Trust me, if you’d been burned by Joe, you’d know. But vote instead for former State Rep. Robert Asencio, who doesn’t have any negative baggage or bag guys. Not saying Martinez does, but he’s also been in office for a long time and this is an opportunity for a sea change on the commission. Joe can manage his daughter’s singing career.

For Commissioner District 13: Felicidades Sen. Rene Garcia. It’s already yours. Call me.

For Congress in the Republican primary District 26: My choice is Miami-Dade firefighter Omar Blanco, a real public servant (read: hero) who has dedicated his life to helping others. In 2014, his leadership on the fire union helped prevent rolling brown-outs — where Gimenez suggested taking out fire rescue units for shifts at a time to save money. Blanco also helped pass the cancer presumption bill for firefighters last year, which is important to thousands of families across Florida. His wife is a school teacher. Both grew up in the working class district. There is no way that Carlos Gimenez should be elected even as dog catcher. Not only because of his track record of giving multi-million dollar no-bid contracts and jobs away to his family and friends, not only because he diverted the funds meant for expansion of MetroRail so he could balance the budget, not only because he never met a secret backroom deal he didn’t love, but also and most recently because he has totally mishandled the COVID-19 response and shown what kind of arrogant, ivory tower leader he is at heart. Also, this is a partisan primary race and he’s not even really Republican. Sure, Gimenez is registered with the GOP. But he has gone where the wind blows, endorsing Hillary Clinton in 2016 and flirting — or pretending to flirt — with becoming a Democrat. Now, suddenly, he’s a Trumpster? Don’t believe it. It doesn’t really matter because neither one of them will beat Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell in November, but Blanco deserves a chance to try and Gimenez deserves to be sent home with his tail between his legs.

For state rep in District 116: The Republican incumbent, Daniel Perez, deserves to be re-elected in the primary. The freshman is so beloved in Tallahassee that he has already been chosen to be the Speaker of the House in 2024. He has a barely-there challenger in Gabriel Garcia, who raised $500 so far and is really being funded and helped by State Rep. Jose Oliva, who will likely become a lobbyist and wants to have his way in the Capitol after he’s gone. Perez is fighting a nasty attack campaign calling him a communist because he went to Cuba years ago with his then-fiance to meet her family members, including some elderly grandparents who might not have gotten another chance. People forget that Cubans cannot leave the island and so that’s why Cuban-Americans have to travel there to see family. Perhaps he shouldn’t have used the opportunity to fill his wedding book with photos on el malecon and among Havana’s ruins. But they were young and in love in Havana! Who can blame them? And when might they get that chance again? Why should foreigners and Hollywood elites like Danny Glover and Beyonce get to selfie on Calle Obispo but not us? Ridiculous. Voters, many of whom have traveled to Cuba to visit family members, should reject this smear and also Oliva’s meddling where he doesn’t belong.

Feel free to let me know if there is a particular race that Ladra should weigh in on that she hasn’t already. There are still two weeks to election day. And anything can happen.

Daniel Perez, Melba Pearson, Miami-Dade Commission races, Miami-Dade Mayor 2020, Omar Blanco, Raquel Regalado, Sybrina Fulton, Xavier Suarez

Ladra’s picks for 2020 Miami-Dade county, state and federal elections added by Ladra on August 3, 2020
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